DIY Algae scrubber

[Angelphish]

Just the attached .. I've put in some safe start as it's a fairly new set up so protein skimmer is dialled down at min as I don't want to remove it all

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What skimmer is that? I'm looking at the bubble magus curve 9. Most places ask $410 for it, but amazon has it for $325.

 

[Tomt37]

Aqua one g220 bubble magus looks good!

 

[Tomt37]

I would have preferred an in sump one but don't have the room

 

[markstrimaran]

If it's biopellets the flow isn't that key .. you want them constantly moving in reactor ..( it's more key for it to be very slow flow if you were using an anaerobic nitrate reductor) so if you look at some of the fluidised reactor pumps for biopellets online for flow rate as will depend on size of your reactor .. I have a 2ltr reactor with a 400ltr flow rate on a 400ltr tank + 80 ish litre sump ... the stuff that's going into your polyester will be bacteria sludge so you want it out of the tank .. I think bleach just causes bacteria protein to clump? Although I could be wrong on that so might be worth buying fine sheets of floss cheap to put on top and cutting and using as a top layer to dispose of regularly .. a slower flow shouldn't impact the speed at which nitrates are removed significantly and if it's on the lower end it'll be easier to manage the filter floss for the output imo

So your flowing 400 liters, per day?

 

[markstrimaran]

I use 50/50 bleach to water, soaking for 48 hrs, it burns, off and oxidizes everything. Bright white,

 

[markstrimaran]

With flow I think the theory is that you just need enough to keep the biopellets tumbling or moving so they bump into each other and cast off old bacteria exposing new carbon and also enough to bring in oxygenated water so the denitrification stays aerobic .. but doesn't have to be high flow

What brand is this? I thought all denitrators worked anaerobicly.

I have also notice a 8.4 pH will develope microbubbles for a skimmer. I have never used one on fresh water.

Also a effluent filter will only be good for maybe 3 days, unless it is well oxygenated after the anaerobic reactor. Hydrogen sulfide will make the filter unusable.

 

[Tomt37]

no biopellets have a carbon source built in and allow denitrification in an aerobic environment google np biopellets for example but lots of other makes .. they're not like reductor that run trickle fed with dosing pump and vodka or some sh*t lol

 

[Tomt37]

http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/control-nitrate-phosphate - just an example

 

[markstrimaran]

Is the effluent 0ppm nitrate? How many liters per day can a large unit process.

 

[Tomt37]

It takes time to build up .. the results when fully running is close to zero nitrate as the nitrate will be in bacteria which are expelled and need to be removed from tank so they don't breakdown back into nitrogen cycle